Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a lightwave oven for heating food in a cooking chamber having an oven housing and a drawer that can be moved out and in through an opening in the oven housing, a bottom plate, side walls, and a rear wall that bound the cooking chamber, and a front plate to close the opening in the oven housing.
Lightwave ovens are ovens that heat the food by visible and infrared radiation. As a result of the action of visible, virtually visible, and infrared radiation of high intensity on the food, a very rapid and high-quality cooking and baking method is provided. The cooking times lie approximately in the time frame that is known from the use of microwave ovens, browning being achieved as is known from conventional ovens.
The light/radiation sources used in the known lightwave ovens are tungsten quartz halogen lamps, such as quartz arc lamps.
A lightwave oven of the generic type is known, for example from International Application WO 95/32396 A1, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,674,421 to Beaver II et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,534,679 to Beaver II et al. In the case of this prior art oven, the food carrier includes a plate that is open at the front and provided with three side walls and has a central opening into which a metal grid can be inserted, which is used to actually hold the food. The grid can be rotated by rollers disposed underneath the plate so that the food can be moved relative to the light/radiation source. The door for closing the opening in the oven housing, from which the food carrier can be moved out, is constructed as a pivoting door that is opened or closed by the movable food carrier. The disadvantage with such a prior art configuration is, firstly, that, because of the design of the food carrier as a plate that is open at the front and provided with only three side walls and a central opening, the cleaning of the oven is possible only with difficulty and, secondly, the lightwave oven is constructed to irradiate the food only from above.